As interactive television (“iTV”) systems evolve to the point of offering more complex and varied services (e.g., home shopping, interactive games, home banking and other financial transactions, etc.), iTV systems tend to be complicated for users to operate the television as an interface to such services. That is, it is difficult for users to navigate through the iTV system while watching current programming content.
Past iTV systems have been limited in scope. For example, the most basic interactivity provided by iTV systems used “teletext,” where cyclical digital data is inserted in the vertical blanking interval of a video signal. The net result is typically a few lines of text at the base of a television screen. Users may then use a remote control device to select television images, gain access to the Internet, and the like, from the teletext. A disadvantage of using teletext is that it is often distracting to users to see lines of text at the base of the television screen while watching a program.
Another common iTV system involves tuning to a dedicated channel associated with interactive services. A disadvantage of such a system is that users need to tune to the specific channel (and often interrupt a scheduled program) to gain access to the interactive services.
Thus, what is needed is an unobtrusive iTV system to facilitate simple interactivity for a user of the iTV system.